Another Man Charged for Saigon Murder

Police have arrested and charged a sixth man for Non-Capital Murder in connection with the brutal chopping incident on May 19 that claimed the life of 30-year-old Mont Toute resident, Kendall Smith.

Robert Steven – caught on camera as he was escorted to court last week Friday

The latest person to be implicated in the gruesome killing is 26-year-old Maintenance Worker, Robert Stephen who is also from the same village as the deceased.

Five others were brought to court last week for the attack on Smith inside his shop in the notorious area called Saigon in Grand Anse.

Stephen appeared unrepresented last week Friday, before Chief Magistrate Tamara Gill at the St. George’s No. 1 Magistrate’s Court, where he was remanded to prison.

The five who were already passed in front the court on May 23 were Construction Workers Alpheus Thomas, 33, from Grand Anse Valley, Chevon Stephen, 19, of Woodlands, along with 23-year-old Janitor, Ronnie Thomas, as well as 33-year-old Fisherman, Micah Stephen of Grand Anse Housing Scheme and a 17-year old secondary school student, who is being treated as a juvenile.

THE NEW TODAY understands that police officers attached to the South St. George’ Police Station swooped down on the latest murder suspect early last week Thursday morning at his home in Mont Toute.

The six murder suspects are accused of using cutlasses and other sharpened instruments to inflict severe damage on Smith including 15 chop wounds in what appears to be a revenge attack.

The incident leading up to Smith’s death stemmed from another chopping incident which occurred a few days earlier in which the deceased left another man called “Timmy” hospitalised with severe chop wounds.

Kendall Smith – chopped to death

It is believed that Timmy is a close relative of some of the murder accused persons.

A villager who spoke to this newspaper on condition that he was not identified said that “Timmy” was considered as a “bad-john” and was known to be involved in several chopping incidents in the past.

“If a man did you something you could call Timmy and give him a money and tell him to chop that man for you and he would do it”, said the source.

“He (Timmy) was a sick youth. He was always in fight, chopping people. Look how he get chop up now”, he added.

Another resident told THE NEW TODAY that Smith had kept away from his shop after the incident with Timmy out of fear that he would be set upon by those close to the injured man.

He said that Smith came to the shop on the fatal night and was in the process of using a light from his cellphone to clean the floor of the blood that spilled from the chopping of Timmy.

“He was inside the shop very quiet and somebody would have seen when he went in there and alerted the boys who came from different directions to launch the attack on him”, he added.

Smith is said to have run out of the shop after getting a few chops but fell onto the ground a few distance away when some of the others moved in for the kill.

The murder suspects are all scheduled to reappear before the court on June 12 for the start of the Preliminary Inquiry into the murder charge.